youth researcher advocate educator assistant professor School of Information Sciences University of Illinois |
Full Curriculum Vitaermmagee AT illinois DOT edu
rachelmmagee AT gmail DOT com |
Howdy all! I'm youth advocate and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working in the School of Information Sciences (iSchool). I examine the ways young people interact with technology and media and what those practices mean for their engagement with information. Lately I'm especially interested in supporting young people to have intentional interactions with technology. I've worked with youth - including children, teens, and early adults - for more than 25 years, and am excited to bring that experience to bear on my research and teaching.
Some of my research has been supported by a generous Early Career Development Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I researched the best ways to connect teens to the original research process and incorporate youth perspectives into research about teen technology practices. I research and teach on youth, technology, and media, as well as research design and methods. I'm lucky to get to teach about undergraduate and graduate levels.
I study information science from a socio-technical perspective, deeply informed by my background as a teen services librarian. In 2015, I completed my Ph.D. at Drexel University in the College of Computing and Informatics. At Drexel, in addition to my own research, I worked with the Youth Online Research Group and the Social Computing Research Group. My dissertation focused on teens' everyday life technology use. My doctoral research was supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program*, as well as the Young Adult Library Services Association. Denise E. Agosto and Andrea Forte were my dissertation co-advisors, and my committee included Kristene Unsworth, Urs Gasser (Harvard University), and Sean P. Goggins (University of Missouri). In the past, I also had the great opportunity to work as an intern at the Youth and Media Lab at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Previously, I worked for the Los Angeles County Public Library, and received my Masters in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona. My work also builds on my B.A. in English and B.S. in Radio-Television-Film, both from the University of Texas at Austin. Thanks for visiting, and feel free to get in touch!
Some of my research has been supported by a generous Early Career Development Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I researched the best ways to connect teens to the original research process and incorporate youth perspectives into research about teen technology practices. I research and teach on youth, technology, and media, as well as research design and methods. I'm lucky to get to teach about undergraduate and graduate levels.
I study information science from a socio-technical perspective, deeply informed by my background as a teen services librarian. In 2015, I completed my Ph.D. at Drexel University in the College of Computing and Informatics. At Drexel, in addition to my own research, I worked with the Youth Online Research Group and the Social Computing Research Group. My dissertation focused on teens' everyday life technology use. My doctoral research was supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program*, as well as the Young Adult Library Services Association. Denise E. Agosto and Andrea Forte were my dissertation co-advisors, and my committee included Kristene Unsworth, Urs Gasser (Harvard University), and Sean P. Goggins (University of Missouri). In the past, I also had the great opportunity to work as an intern at the Youth and Media Lab at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Previously, I worked for the Los Angeles County Public Library, and received my Masters in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona. My work also builds on my B.A. in English and B.S. in Radio-Television-Film, both from the University of Texas at Austin. Thanks for visiting, and feel free to get in touch!
*Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Other Highlights:
Magee, R. M., (Nov. 20, 2022). Justice and Inclusion in Research: Opportunities for Microaffections
in Human Research Infrastructure. Information Matters. Available online here.
Magee, R.M., Buck, M., Kitzmann, J., Morris, N., Petrimoulx, D., Rich, M., Sensiba, J., Tiemann, E., &
Wempe, A. (2019). Teen Social Media Practices and Perceptions of Peers: Implications for Youth
Services Providers and Researchers. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. Available online here.
Magee, R. M., (Nov. 20, 2022). Justice and Inclusion in Research: Opportunities for Microaffections
in Human Research Infrastructure. Information Matters. Available online here.
- Intended for a general audience, this article discusses inclusive research design, drawing on some of research with teens.
Magee, R.M., Buck, M., Kitzmann, J., Morris, N., Petrimoulx, D., Rich, M., Sensiba, J., Tiemann, E., &
Wempe, A. (2019). Teen Social Media Practices and Perceptions of Peers: Implications for Youth
Services Providers and Researchers. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. Available online here.
- This paper was developed with seven teenage co-authors, and received the 2020 Writing Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the national professional organization focused on library services for teens.